Lynn Hatter

Lynn Hatter is a Florida A&M University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Lynn has served as reporter/producer for WFSU since 2007 with education and health care issues as her key coverage areas. She is an award-winning member of the Capital Press Corps and has participated in the NPR Kaiser Health News Reporting Partnership and NPR Education Initiative. When she’s not working, Lynn spends her time watching sci-fi and action movies, writing her own books, going on long walks through the woods, traveling and exploring antique stores. Follow Lynn Hatter on Twitter: @HatterLynn.

The number of Floridians living in poverty has fallen since the Great Recession. But it’s still higher than the national average. The federal government has released two reports showing about 14 percent of Floridians had incomes below the poverty line.

Governor Rick Scott’s decision to start the process of appointing new Florida Supreme Court justices has ignited a looming constitutional crisis. At the center of the issue: who—the outgoing or incoming governor—has the ability to make those appointments.

Gubernatorial candidates are making their final pitches to voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Democrat Gwen Graham returned to Tallahassee Thursday to vote and rally her supporters amid polls showing Graham and Phil Levine tied as front-runners to win the Democratic Gubernatorial primary.

Florida’s top leadership offices are up for grabs this year and one of the largest jobs is overseeing the state’s multi-billion dollar agriculture and consumer services industries. There are seven candidates vying to succeed Adam Putnam as Agriculture Commissioner. Five of them recently appeared before several South Florida editorial boards to make their cases to voters.

The League of Women Voters of Florida is hoping to persuade a Leon County Circuit judge today to strip a constitutional amendment proposal off the November ballot. The amendment in question is number eight, which combines several issues into one proposal like term limits for local school board, mandating civics be taught. But the part the league takes issue with the section that deals with approving new charter schools.

Once upon a time, the Red Wolf roamed the south and eastern United States, from Texas to Pennsylvania. Today, there are fewer than 40 wolves left in the wild. The species is what’s called “functionally extinct”— with most of the remaining 200 or so wolves in captivity. The Trump administration is proposing changes to the Endangered Species Act that conservationists worry, could end what little protection the Red Wolf has left.

The League of Women Voters of Florida wants a constitutional amendment it says is misleading removed from the November ballot. The target is Amendment Eight which critics say could lead to the creation of more charter schools.

The League’s Attorney Rom Meyer says the ballot summary of Amendment Eight is vague and doesn’t tell voters the main purpose of the proposal.

Florida’s statewide teacher’s union is once again suing the legislature—this time over a new law that could directly impact its membership. It’s the latest in a line of lawsuits filed over the state’s education policies.

Recent polling shows there are four constitutional amendments poised for approval on Florida’s November ballot. Three of those deal exclusively with the issue of taxation. But there’s ongoing concern that determining tax policy through constitutional referendum isn’t in the public’s best interest.

Florida’s embattled medical marijuana office continues wading through rulemaking—two years after Florida voters approved the system. But the industry is moving faster than regulators ability to govern it, leading to problems.

Teachers in several states have gone on strike in recent months, protesting for better pay and working conditions. But that’s not the case in Florida, and likely will never be. Still, once upon a time, Florida led the first teacher strike in the United States.

Florida lawmakers say they’re working to come up with legislation aimed at curbing school shootings like the one last week in South Florida. Students from across the state are joining those from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to lobby lawmakers for tougher gun laws. But they’re confronting the often confusing reality of legislative politics.

A key Florida Senate committee has stripped language from an omnibus education bill that threatened the survival of the state’s teachers unions. Critics of the plan say it’s unfair that only teachers were targeted.

In the wake of the deaths of 17 people from a shooting at a Broward High School, people are once again focusing on school safety. Administrators and elected officials alike are pushing for more funding to shore up infrastructure, but some are beginning to wonder if that’s enough.

After being delayed twice a proposal restricting physician prescribing powers for opioids is once again moving in the senate. It’s part of a wide-ranging proposal to address overdose deaths, which have jumped in Florida and across the nation in recent years.

A decision to exempt Florida from a federal plan opening more waters to oil and gas exploration is not final. Supporters and opponents were out Thursday for the federal government’s first and only public Florida hearing on its proposed five-year plan.

The Florida legislature is again considering banning fracking—the process of extracting oil and natural gas underground. Lawmakers have tussled over the issue in recent years, but proposal sponsor Dana Young says the process is too dangerous to allow in Florida.

Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and Richard Corcoran continue to spar over immigration policies and in the latest—the Tallahassee Democratic mayor has challenged the Republican state house speaker to a debate.

Some 47,000 Florida students are being bullied or have been in some sort of violent situation—be it school fights, or harassment. And a priority of House Speaker Richard Corcoran is getting those kids some help. A proposal allowing those kids to transfer to other public and private schools is making its way through the legislature but critics say it’s not a solution to the problem.

The Florida House and Senate are already clashing over education—higher ed in particular. The House is planning deep cuts for the state’s public colleges and universities while the Senate is looking to increase funding for both systems.

Florida’s public community and state colleges could become their own system, and move from under the authority of the state board of education. But with that newfound independence would come strict caps on the number of students that can enroll in bachelor’s degree programs at those schools, and make it harder for community and state colleges to establish such programs.

For the past several years the Florida House and Senate have battled over how to pay for public schools. Now the House is drawing a red line over what it will and won’t do when it comes to deciding how to appropriate those funds.

Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran says he won’t raise taxes—either directly or indirectly. Corcoran took aim at the Florida Senate, stating he will also fight any plan that allows an increase in property tax revenue through higher property values to be counted toward public school funding.